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Sunday 10 June 2012

London bus staff drive on towards Olympic strike - The Guardian

London bus staff drive on towards Olympic strike - The Guardian

London bus workers are preparing to announce strike dates this week as they step up their dispute over a £500 Olympic bonus.

Thousands of bus workers at the Unite trade union have voted by a majority of more than 90% for industrial action and have warned that walkouts could take place during the Games. Unite also accused the capital's transport authority of "hypocrisy" after claiming that seven Transport for London bosses could share a £560,000 bonus payment if performance targets including a trouble-free Olympics are met.

Peter Kavanagh, Unite's regional secretary for London, said: "This is barefaced hypocrisy of the highest order. TfL chiefs on six-figure salaries are in line to earn Olympic bonuses worth 160 times more than bus workers are asking for."

TfL said the claims were "spurious and inaccurate" because the bonus scheme, which equates to a payment of £80,000 for each senior director, is not based solely on performance over the Olympics and is part of the directors' contracts.

"It is disappointing that Unite continues to push for strike action, attempting to exploit the Games spirit and add a further multimillion-pound burden to the hard-pressed fare and taxpayers of London," said Leon Daniels, TfL's director of surface transport.

Under the terms of the 1992 Trade Union Act, Unite is unable to announce strike dates during the Olympics immediately. It must take industrial action within 28 days of the strike ballot being announced, which sets a deadline of the first week of July. If drivers take industrial action before that point, they are then allowed to stretch their strike mandate into the Games between 27 July and 12 August.

Unite's strike threat is further complicated by the fact that bus operators claim they are unable to pay a bonus. The 21 bus companies that operate in London are paid a set fee by TfL and are adamant that any extra staff payment must be underwritten by the mayor's transport authority. TfL's Daniels again indicated that the organisation will not underwrite a deal. "As has always been clear, bus drivers are employed by private companies and their pay and conditions are a matter for those private companies," he said.

TfL said a £500 bonus payment equated to a "bill of £12m for no additional work".

However, Unite argues that the 20,000 bus workers it represents are entitled to a bonus after payments of £850 were secured for tube staff. Staff at Network Rail, the DLR, the London Overground line and Virgin Trains have all agreed bonuses of between £500 and £900 each.

Unite has given bus operators until the start of this week to respond to its demand. If there is no response, it is preparing to announce strike dates by the middle of the week. The conciliation service, Acas, has not been involved so far.


Source: www.guardian.co.uk

London set for mobile coverage on Underground trains - Daily Telegraph

Mr Verwaayen declined to comment on the timing or cost of the roll-out, but indicated that an Alcatel-Lucent deal was “not a hypothetical, it is coming”.

The boost in productivity, as workers to check their emails and make calls on the move, would be worth around £1.1bn to the British economy, Alcatel-Lucent claimed.

It would also draw a line under a series of failed attempts to introduce mobile coverage to the Underground. In 2011, the Chinese network Huawei offered to make the £50m upgrade as a gift to the British government. However, the deal fell apart in the face of public scepticism about the Chinese company’s motives. The company is routinely accused of being able to use its network for spying, a charge which it denies.

The Alcatel-Lucent roll-out follows plans to install wireless broadband access at tube stations, announced earlier this year. The service, which will be paid for by Virgin Media and also uses Alcatel-Lucent technology, will launch at 80 London stations by July, starting with Oxford Circus, Stratford, Liverpool Street, Leicester Square and King’s Cross.


Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

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